There's a scene in the movie Songwriter in which Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson are attempting to write a song. Suddenly Kristofferson asks Nelson, "Do you suppose a man's got to be a miserable son of a bitch all the time just to write a good song every now and then?"
Anyone who has seen Kieran Goss live in concert could hardly describe him as a miserable son of a bitch, although, as has been noted elsewhere, Goss' songs tend towards the sad and reflective in sharp contrast to his stage and civvy street persona.
In fact his new album Red Letter Day is virtually replete with songs on the downer side of lonesome, so what gives in the life of one of our most renowned composing talents?
"I feel that songwriting has an element of therapy in it. It's part self-education. No matter what happens with my career I would always see myself writing songs. But it can be a curse as well, if that's the right word. You might be using a song to deal with something that's a bit out of focus in your head, but sometimes that can prolong the agony, as it were, too."
He would point to his current single 'Take A Look At My Heart', co-written with Kirsten Hall, as a song of self-exploration that he feels totally captures what he was looking to express. As he puts it, "You have to train yourself to react when there's something going on in your life or in your head that might work as a song or part of a song. That little thing can be the start of that new song through which you might find lots of answers to all sorts of things. For me, my earlier songs were really a part of me growing up and learning about the way I related to the world and to people."
Goss is also a firm believer in the need for self-editing, knowing what to leave out and when to stop. Up to a point he agrees with Sting's comment that songs are never finished, you just abandon them when you know you've nothing left to add. But Goss would argue that "When a song is right, you know it's right, no question."
One of the key features of the new album (out in May) is his co-writing with other experienced writers. Writing credits on Red Letter Day include Paul Tiernan, Rodney Crowell, Brenda Russell and Lindy Robbins. "I'd never written with anyone in the past and it was a complete revelation! It all started at the IMRO get-together in Clifden a couple of years back and it opened up whole new areas for me and gave me a new burst of confidence too."
While in Clifden, Goss was involved in songwriting sessions with such acclaimed songsmiths as Lamont Dozier, composer of countless Motown classics, Russell and Crowell. "It was a mind-opener to discover that none of these great writers had, to quote my brother, two heads . They had no magic formula or special tricks. I suddenly discovered that songwriting was more a question of having the skill and the attitude and the discipline, and that songs need a structure. It made me realise too that inspiration is very over-rated!
"The experience also made me accept the importance of being true to yourself, knowing what you want to sing about. Balancing the desire to express emotion in a way that communicates that emotion to others is what it's all about", he adds.
There's one song on the new album, 'Reasons To Leave' that Goss wrote with Rodney Crowell. But how it did that song start?
"One day I had this melody, just one line of it, and the idea of that dilemma of wanting to leave a relationship which also implies that you might want to stay as well. I saw it initially as a country ballad. But Rodney, when I introduced him to it, thought of leaving as in emigration and that brought a whole new dimension to it. So we worked on it together for about three hours, and then we e-mailed each other back and forth over the coming weeks and I firmly believe it's the most substantial song on the album".
But what did he learn specifically from working with the Texan who's written songs for Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson among others?
"He pays great attention to detail. I'd get an e-mail from him wondering, for example, whether we should make this word plural or leave it singular. I was shellshocked by all that!"
While some songwriters, like Goss' contemporary Mick Hanly, operate a daily office routine whereby they go into a room every morning and work at their craft, Goss decided to get an office for other more mundane reasons. "Things got so hectic, what with running my own record label and worrying about all the marketing and stuff, that I decided to set up an office to deal with all that. That leaves me free to sit down for maybe three or four hours and tinker around on a guitar or piano until I hit on something. But when something hits you, you have to be alert enough to spot it and to grab it and work on it, even it happens at eleven o'clock at night!".
Goss's new album betrays his fascination with The Beatles, but he also admits to other songwriting heroes. "You can't deny your influences. They're your roots. I love the Beatles and Elvis Costello and I'm particularly fond of Sting. I think he's a brilliant melodist. When I meet people who knock him I tell them to go off and come back to me when they've written a song as good as 'Every Breath You Take'!"